Policy Analysis

INLS187

Aaron Shah

Assignment#4

The policy that I will evaluate is the UNC-Chapel-Hill Onyen This Policy pertains to me personally because I am a current student at the University. The summarization of this policy is that as a person affiliated with the University one has the right to have access to the use of the Onyen to transmit data and that the contents of each individuals Onyen or data are private but can be confiscated by ITS staff under special circumstances which range from breaking the law to doing something unethical on campus and for that individuals personal use only. Here is a link to the Onyen page: www.unc.edu/policy/onyenpol.html .

One of the interesting points to me is that there are limitations of an individual rights stated within this policy just as there are limitations to what an individual can do in society. Another interesting feature of this policy is the variety of individuals considered who are affiliated with the institution. I personally feel as if this policy protects me from violating the rights of fellow users and it also protects the rights of those other users. The criteria for observation of this policy are authorization, identification, affiliation and verification. You must an affiliate of the organization in order to use these services belonging to or having a relationship with the University.

The personal identification number that is assigned to you is something that you must have in order to obtain the Onyen. The individual who desires to use must provide verification of who they are before being given rights. You must receive authorization from the establishment or hierarchy to view the data. Completeness, this device does serve all of the constitutes that are apart of the organization from the most important person on the campus to the least important temporary user. Uniqueness, since the creation of the Onyen a person’s identity belongs to them and cannot be duplicated before the development of the Onyen there were issues with past students identities being recycled.

I believe that the Onyen satisfies each of the criteria that I have discussed. I recommend that the privacy issues concerning the data of individuals be revised because if the ITS staff can pull your data anytime they want there is no telling what may happen that can challenge your first amendment rights which raises the question how much privacy does each individual user have and who is policing those with the power to view your information.

Graham, Sherry. Onyen Policy Page. 11 Dec. 2002. 11 Nov. 2003

<http://www.unc.edu/policy/onyenpol.html>.